'I had to be perfect': Mel C reveals how she developed an eating disorder and exercised obsessively when she was in the Spice Girls as she opens up about her struggle with depression

Mel C has revealed how she struggled with an eating disorder and exercised obsessively when she was a member of the Spice Girls.

The singer, 43, who shot to fame as one fifth of the iconic girl group in 1996, was dubbed Sporty Spice because of her athletic style and physique.

She told the Telegraph how she severely limited her diet when she became obsessed over the idea of being the perfect pop star.

Opening up: Melanie C revealed how she struggled with an eating disorder and exercised obsessively when she was a member of the Spice Girls

Speaking to Bryony Gordon, she said: 'I thought I had to be a certain way to be deserving of everything that was happening to me... to be a popstar I had to be perfect, and that was my way of trying to achieve perfection.

'I'd never starved myself, but I wasn't eating properly and I was exercising obsessively and all of my time with the Spice Girls I think I was probably living on adrenaline, God only knows how I got through it and I think my body just got to the point where it was like - enough.'